Publishing Principles

How we find, verify, and publish coupons and deals, along with the standards we hold ourselves to.

Our Mission & Editorial Promise

Since 2012, DontPayFull has helped millions of online shoppers find working coupon codes and deals across 30,000+ retailers worldwide. We operate across the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and since 2025, across Europe. We have one goal: to help you pay less when you shop online.

"We built DontPayFull to be the coupon site we'd actually trust as shoppers ourselves."
— Andrei Vasilescu, Co-Founder & CEO

In practice, this means:

  • We work to keep every code accurate. Our verification combines automated testing, manual review, and community feedback. This process doesn't stop after publishing.
  • We rank by value to you, not by what earns us money. Affiliate relationships don't influence how deals are displayed.
  • We tell you when we earn from your purchase. Our financial relationships with retailers are disclosed.
  • We clearly mark what's expired. Expired codes are separated from active offers. We keep recent ones visible because they help you track a store's discount patterns, plus some still work past their expiration date.
  • We're upfront about what we can't guarantee. Codes expire without notice and merchants change terms anytime. We'd rather tell you that than hide it.

Our Team

DontPayFull was co-founded by Andrei Vasilescu (CEO) and Adrian Cristea (CTO) in October 2012. What started as a two-person project has grown into a multinational operation with more than 50 full-time employees and over 150 dedicated deal hunters working across multiple time zones. In 2025, we expanded into Romania, Germany, France, and Spain, and in 2026 we're bringing DontPayFull to 15 additional markets.


Our team is organized around four layers of expertise:

Discovery: Our Deal Hunters, automated systems, and community of shoppers scan multiple source categories daily: direct brand partnerships, affiliate networks, merchant websites, email newsletters, social media, online forums, mobile app notifications, SMS campaigns, and user submissions. The goal is to surface relevant codes and deals as fast as possible.

Verification: Deal Hunters, paid Contributors, automated testing systems, and community feedback work together to check codes and deals. They test in real checkout environments, confirm deal terms, and validate pricing accuracy. Verification is ongoing and doesn't end when a code goes live.

Quality: Our Content team reviews what gets published, ensuring listings meet our accuracy, clarity, and labeling standards. They oversee store page descriptions, editorial content, and the consistency of information across the platform.

Technology: Our engineering team builds and maintains the automated verification systems, browser extension, monitoring infrastructure, and the platform itself. They ensure performance, security, and the scalability needed to cover thousands of stores simultaneously.

These layers work together continuously from the moment a code or deal enters our platform until it's marked as expired.

How We Verify Coupons & Deals

We handle two types of offers: coupon codes you enter at checkout, and deals applied directly by the merchant. Each follows a different verification path once it reaches our platform.

Where we find codes and deals

We source offers from multiple channels to ensure comprehensive coverage:

  • Direct partnerships: Exclusive codes negotiated directly with brand partners
  • Affiliate network marketplaces: Promotional codes and offers from affiliate platforms
  • Merchant websites: Our systems and team monitor merchant sites for new promotions, pricing changes, and seasonal events
  • Email newsletters and direct marketing: Promotional codes from merchant communications
  • Social media: Codes and deals from official brand accounts and community-shared offers
  • Online forums and communities: User-shared codes from discussion boards and groups
  • Mobile apps and SMS campaigns: Flash sales and limited-time offers from merchant notifications
  • User submissions: Codes shared by shoppers through our website and browser extension


What we check

For coupon codes, our team and automated systems go through real checkout processes on merchant websites. During this process, we verify key conditions such as:

  • Whether the code applies correctly and the discount calculates accurately
  • Minimum purchase requirements and cart value thresholds
  • Product and category exclusions
  • Regional and geographic restrictions
  • Expiration dates and time-limited conditions
  • Payment method requirements
  • Whether the code works for new customers only or for all shoppers

"We run automated checkout simulations that replicate what a real shopper experiences - adding items to cart, applying the code, and confirming the discount before the purchase step."
— Adrian Cristea, Co-Founder & CTO


For deals and sales (no code required), verification involves confirming that the promotion is active on the merchant's site, the advertised discount matches the actual pricing, and the terms and conditions are accurately represented.


How we monitor active codes and deals

We monitor active listings through multiple channels:

  • Scheduled re-verification: Automated re-testing of active codes on a regular basis, with higher frequency for popular offers
  • Browser extension signals: Anonymized, real-time success and failure data from shoppers using our extension, helping us identify codes that stop working within hours
  • Community feedback: Users can vote whether a code worked or not, and report issues directly from the deal page
  • Merchant API integrations: Where available, direct connections with merchant systems provide real-time updates on code validity and usage limits
  • Predictive analysis: Machine learning models trained on historical data help us predict when codes are likely to expire, so we can proactively re-verify or flag them

For deals, we monitor merchant pages for pricing changes, promotion end dates, and updates to terms and conditions.

"Our monitoring systems continuously scan merchant pages to detect changes in deal availability, pricing, and promotional terms."
— Adrian Cristea, Co-Founder & CTO


When something stops working

When a code is reported as not working, we investigate and mark it as expired. While we separate these from active offers, we keep recent expired codes visible at the bottom of the page. We do this for two reasons: it helps you track a store's discount history, and occasionally, merchant checkout systems still accept them past their official expiration date.


What we can't guarantee (but wish we could)

  • Codes can expire without notice. Merchants sometimes deactivate codes before the announced end date, and we may not catch it immediately.
  • Some codes are product-specific. A code may only work for certain items, categories, or cart values that don't match what you're buying.
  • Regional restrictions apply. A code that works in one country may not work in another, even on the same merchant's website.
  • Flash sales end early. Limited-quantity deals can sell out or end before the stated deadline.
  • Merchant terms can change at any time. Minimum order values, excluded products, and stacking rules can be updated by the merchant without prior notice.

We work to minimize these gaps, but we'd rather be honest about them than pretend they don't exist.

Content Standards & Accountability

Standards we follow

  • Continuous monitoring. Our automated systems and user feedback provide real-time signals on code validity. We also run periodic manual checks across our listings, with increased frequency on popular stores and during major shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
  • Clear labeling. Every listing is clearly marked as a coupon code or deal. We don't disguise deal links as coupon codes to drive clicks.
  • Accurate descriptions. Offer descriptions include relevant conditions: minimum purchase amounts, excluded categories, expiration dates, and any other restrictions we can identify.
  • AI transparency. We use AI-assisted tools in parts of our content creation and monitoring processes. All AI-generated or AI-assisted content is reviewed and validated by our editorial team before publication. AI supports our work and does not replace editorial judgment.
  • Editorial independence. Our content team operates independently from our partnerships and business development teams. What appears on our pages is determined by relevance and value to shoppers, not by commercial relationships.


When something goes wrong

Mistakes happen. What matters is how we handle them.

  • Report a problem: After clicking to use a code or a deal, you're asked whether it worked. You can also flag broken codes, incorrect information, or other issues directly from the store page.
  • Response time: Our 24/7 support team aims to resolve reported issues within a few hours. Critical issues affecting high-traffic pages are prioritized and addressed immediately.
  • How we correct: When we identify an error like a broken code, an incorrect description, or outdated terms, we update or remove the listing. We don't leave known inaccuracies in place.


Content freshness

Most coupons and deals on our site display the date they were last verified or updated. We review and update this Publishing Principles page regularly to ensure it remains accurate and reflects our current practices.

How We Make Money

DontPayFull is free to use. We don't charge shoppers anything to access our codes and deals. Here is exactly how we fund our operations.

Affiliate commissions

When you click on a coupon or deal on our site and make a purchase at the retailer, we may earn a small commission from that retailer. This is called an affiliate commission. The key points:

  • You never pay more. The commission comes from the retailer, not from your pocket. Your price is the same whether you found the code on our site or anywhere else.
  • Not every page earns us money. We list codes and deals for thousands of retailers, including many where we have no affiliate relationship and earn nothing. We do this because our mission is to help you save, not just to earn commissions.
  • We disclose our financial relationships. We clearly disclose these relationships on our store pages so you always know when a link might earn us a commission.

We work with established affiliate networks including CJ Affiliate, Rakuten Advertising, Awin, ShareASale, Impact, and others. DontPayFull has been a Corporate Member of the Performance Marketing Association since 2016.


Editorial independence

"The deals you see on DontPayFull are ranked by their value to you. A retailer that pays us higher commissions does not get better placement. Our editorial team and our partnerships team operate independently, and that's not just a policy, it's how we've built the company from day one."
— Andrei Vasilescu, Co-Founder & CEO

Sponsored placements

On occasion, we feature sponsored content or promoted listings from retail partners. When we do:

  • Sponsored content is always labeled. You will always know when a listing is sponsored or promoted. Look for the "Sponsored" or "Promoted" tag next to these specific deals.
  • The same verification standards apply. A sponsored code goes through the same testing and verification process as every other code on our site. Paying for promotion does not bypass our editorial standards.
  • Sponsored placement is visually distinct. We ensure there is a clear difference between organic listings and sponsored content so you can always tell which is which.

Your Data & Privacy

We believe you shouldn't have to trade your privacy for savings.

  • We don't sell your personal data. Your browsing habits, shopping history, and personal information are not sold to third parties.
  • We don't sell your shopping information. What you buy, where you shop, and how you use our site stays with us.
  • We respect your inbox. If you sign up for our newsletter or create an account, we use your email only to send you the deals you asked for. We never share or sell your email address to third parties.
  • Our browser extension processes codes locally on your device. We only receive anonymized signals about whether the codes we provided worked or not. We never track or collect personal codes you enter manually, unless you explicitly choose to share them to help the community.

"We've built our systems so that data protection isn't an afterthought; it's part of the architecture. We collect only what's necessary to operate the platform and protect it with industry-standard security controls."
— Adrian Cristea, Co-Founder & CTO

For full details on what data we collect, how we use it, and your rights, please see our Privacy Policy and Extension Privacy Policy.

Contact & Feedback

Your feedback makes DontPayFull better. Here's how you can reach us:

  • Report a broken code: Use the reporting mechanism on any store page to let us know when a code isn't working. This is the fastest way to help us fix issues.
  • Submit a code we don't have: Found a working code that's not on our site? Submit it through the form on the store page and we'll verify and publish it.
  • General questions or support: Visit our Help Center or reach us through our Contact Page.

We aim to respond to all inquiries within 24-48 hours.

Last updated: March 7, 2026